TikTok’s Chinese parent ByteDance is looking to fuel its ambition of becoming a global artificial intelligence (AI) leader, by building up computing power with $2.5 billion worth of high-end Nvidia chips outside China.
According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, ByteDance is working with South Asian firm Aolani Cloud, drawing up plans to use around 500 Nvidia Blackwell computing systems comprising 36,000 B200 chips at a unit in Malaysia.
Citing people familiar with the matter, WSJ reported that Aolani is buying the servers from server solutions firm Aivres, which assembles servers using Nvidia hardware.
If all arrangements are competed according to plan, the hardware involved would cost more than $2.5 billion, the publication said.
What will this computing power be used for?
Reportedly, ByteDance will leverage the computing power to pursue AI research and development outside China, as well as meet the rising demand for AI from its global customers, who account for a quarter of its revenue.
ByteDance already has a strong footprint in the AI space, and operates five of the world’s top 50 most popular AI apps by monthly users, as per a report by Andreesen Horowitz.
Further, the TikTok parent also has sizeable teams of AI engineers and researchers across the world, in hubs like San Jose, Seattle, and Singapore, who collaborate with their Chinese colleagues for foundational AI research.
WSJ also said that the Singapore and US teams contribute to developing AI models and products designed for markets outside China, and the plans for the Malaysia unit could well follow that blueprint.
A way around export controls
The development comes as US-China tensions persist, with US export controls remaining in place that prevent Nvidia from selling its top-of-the-line AI chips, such as the Blackwell series, directly to China, something that Chinese executives say stifle their ability to develop advanced AI.
Given current restrictions, Chinese companies have also started spending more to access computing power beyond their own borders, especially in geographies where the applicability to US export control rules is less clear.
This, in turn, has led to the growth of middle men who arrange for data centres to be built using Nvidia technology and then lease them to Chinese tech firms, reported WSJ.
Aolani, the firm working ByteDance on the new project, is one of these firms — in a June 2025 description of its work, the company said said that “Asian hyperscalers” preferred to do business with partners such as itself to ensure “compliance in the current geopolitical environment.”
“We adhere fully to all applicable export control regulations,” a company spokesperson was quoted as saying by WSJ.
Founded in late 2023, Aolani’s parent company is registered in the Cayman Islands, WSJ reported, adding that one of its investors include Singapore-based venture capital firm K3 Ventures.
People familiar with the arrangement with ByteDance also told WSJ that Aolani had begun leasing AI servers in Malaysia equipped with Nvidia’s H100 chips to the TikTok parent from February 2025.
For the latest project, ByteDance has already made initial payments, the publication reported.
